Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (游戲橘子) expects to post record revenues in the third quarter thanks to positive seasonal trends and a strong lineup of new game titles, the company said yesterday.
In the first half of this year, Gamania reported consolidated sales of NT2.69 billion (US$81.59 million), registering growth of 42.10 percent, Gamania chief strategy officer William Chen (陳威光) told a press conference.
Chen did not offer an exact sales forecast for the third quarter and only said the figure would be more than the NT$1.369 billion registered in the first quarter, as Taiwan shares a trend with Hong Kong of increased online gaming during summer.
In Taiwan, Gamania is competing with Softworld International Entertainment Corp (智冠科技) and Chinese Gamer International Corp (中華網龍).
DUNGEON FIGHTER
It has invested heavily on licensing an extremely popular game called Dungeon Fighter launched in 2005 by South Korean firms Nexon Corp and Neople Inc, hoping its success in South Korea, Japan, and China could be repeated in Taiwan.
“From Dungeon Fighter alone, we expect to generate NT$30 million in sales per month and reach an objective of 60,000 simultaneous players,” Chen said.
Chen’s vision is not far-fetched, as this two-dimensional game now counts more than 100 million members in Asia since its inception and holds the world record for 30 million same-time-players.
NEW RELEASES
Aside from Dungeon Fighter, the local gaming company also intends to roll out more new titles, including Silent Plot 1 this quarter and two more in the fourth quarter.
“As competition within the online gaming industry intensifies, every company has its own strategy for survival. Recently, Japanese and Chinese themed games have become more popular, but the market is getting saturated and games need to differentiate themselves or they’ll be out of the market in three months,” Chen said.
The company’s emphasis this year will be on action role playing games, after it focused primarily on massively multi-player online role playing games, Gamania chief operating officer Vincent Chuang (莊成志) said.
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